Editor-in-Chief Katy Sunnassee laments not having stayed sugar-free this year and considers the pitfalls of Christmas for chocoholics.
Last Christmas, I ate a mince pie, and the very next day, I didn’t give the rest away… I ate more. This year, to save me from tears (OK, perhaps not tears but feeling hugely bloated and uncomfortable), I’ll be gifting them to someone special (and attempting not to eat them myself).
I had hoped I’d be writing this having had a completely sugar-free year. Last September, I swore off the sweet stuff, seemingly for good, after attending some health lectures by Barbara O’Neill, who shared plenty of reasons why none of us should be eating sugar as it wreaks havoc on the body, messing with hormones, blood sugar, heart health, teeth, and more. She goes as far as to call it “poison.”
After that week, I went cold turkey and was sugar-free until Christmas Eve when I put out a mince pie for Santa, along with a carrot for Rudolph. I know I could have just put the pie back in the box later on, but instead, I scoffed it just in case my son noticed the next day there was still a full box. I could have binned it, of course, but I thought, where’s the harm in one? On Christmas Day, I had another, plus some chocolates. On Boxing Day, I thought I may as well just eat sugary things for the whole week, then stop again for New Year.
But that came and went, and I carried on… and on… and on… until Easter, when I found myself in Waitrose buying up the reduced-price Easter eggs, not for my son but for myself! Then came my gut health detox at Park Igls this April, which I’d billed as my “great health reset,” after which I managed to avoid sugar for at least a month, maybe two. I felt less bloated, my clothes weren’t as tight, and I felt more energised and sharp. I wasn’t feeling like a slug. I’d got back on the wagon—or so I thought.
The Addictive Grip
But sugar, as we know, is addictive. It lights up dopamine receptors in your brain that make you crave more. This time of year is particularly hazardous for sugarholics like me, unless we’re extremely well-prepared. And the reason I bang on about it is because, in midlife, our bad health habits catch up with us. We can’t eat and drink as we did in our 20s and get away with it. Our bodies need nurturing.
And while some people can nibble a chocolate or two and be satisfied, others, like me, can’t easily stop at two but go on to devour the entire box. So perhaps going cold turkey is the only answer—for some anyway. It’s difficult in social situations not to eat sugar, as it’s almost expected of you: cake is part of almost all celebrations. But just as it’s getting more acceptable not to drink alcohol, perhaps one day it’ll be OK to say no to the cake—or not even have it there at all?
Perhaps there should be health warnings on confectionery, like those horrid images of lungs on cigarette packets designed to put people off smoking. This would mightily upset the confectionery manufacturers and spoil their packaging—which is one of the reasons we give it as gifts, as it’s wrapped so beautifully—but it might make people think twice.
What do you say? Should we have images of rotting teeth surrounding chocolate bar wrappers? And are you able to enjoy sweets in moderation, or do you always binge? Is sugar your nemesis? Write in and let me know at topsante.talkback@kelsey.co.uk.
Follow Katy on Substack at katyperimenopause.substack.com.
Read Katy’s ‘Katy Perimenopause’ column in each issue of Top Santé, or read past columns here.
